Williams (39-2, 27 KOs), once known as the most avoided man in boxing, reportedly needs a solid opponent for his July 9 return on HBO, in which he will attempt to rebound from his devastating Knockout of the Year loss last November to Sergio Martinez. Latimore is more than up to filling that slot if Williams is truly serious.

“I will knockout Paul Williams,” Latimore confidently forecasted. “I take nothing away from him. He’s still one of the best fighters in the world but I’m near my prime and still getting better every day. It’s time for me to break through and beating Williams on HBO is the way to do that. I think me and Williams makes for a great TV fight, one that fans want to see, and it should be easy to make, too. I’m looking for a big opportunity on one of the major networks to showcase the new, complete Deadre Latimore. Williams says he is the most avoided fighter in boxing. Well, I’m not avoiding him, and he needs to put up or shut up. Let’s do it!”

St. Louis-bred Latimore, who now lives in Las Vegas, stopped Sechew Powell (23-1) for his signature victory to date, nearly three years ago by seventh-round technical knockout, setting the stage for an All-St. Louis title fight April 24, 2009 between Latimore and Cory Spinks for the vacant IBF strap. Spinks (36-5) won a controversial 12-round split decision (115-112, 113-114, 112-115) and two fights later in a rematch, Latimore dropped a 12-round majority decision to Powell in an IBF title eliminator. Powell, as the No. 1 contender, is now set to challenge IBF champion Cornelius “K9” Bundrage on June 25, ironically, right in Latimore’s hometown of St. Louis.

Latimore is co-promoted by Rumble Time Promotions and DiBella Entertainment.

“We know we have a finished Deandre Latimore,” Rumble Time Promotions President and CEO Steven Smith noted. “He went through a lot of trials and errors, but he’s with the right trainer now, Ray Franklin, who was Kenny Adams’ assistant when he trained Latimore. When Deandre turned pro, he had that big punch, but not a lot of movement. Now, he does it all using jabs, angles and defense with a lot of movement and, as the boxing world knows, he can flat-out punch. He’s also in the best cardio shape of his life because of Ray. When Deandre knocked down Spinks in the first round, he faded in the later rounds, but he doesn’t have that problem anymore. Ray absorbed everything when he worked with Adams and strength and conditioning has always been his major strength.

“Power and movement is why Deandre will beat Paul Williams. It is the same combination that Sergio Martinez used to knockout Williams. I think we’ll do the same thing with the same result. Paul Williams wasn’t just knocked out in his last fight, he was demolished, and we think he’s mentally done. A fighter never gets over something like that. As soon as he feel’s Deandre’s power, he will fold-up again. If Williams fails to accept our challenge, we’ll fight Erislandy Lara any place, anytime.”

The 25-year-old Latimore pitched a complete shutout against the battle-tested Sharpe, winning each of the eight rounds on all three judges’ scorecards by identical scores of 80-72. From start to finish, the stylish southpaw repeatedly displayed his full arsenal of punishing punches landing on Sharpe’s head and body, ranging from left upper cuts to right hooks and everything in between. Before entering the ring to fight Latimore, Sharpe had fought some of the top, young 154-pounders in the world such as Andy Lee, Pawel Wolak, Giovanni Lorenzo and Peter Quillin.

“I give myself an A+ grade for my last fight,” Latimore added. “I did everything we had worked on in training camp. I wanted to show HBO and everybody else what I can do; not only can I knockout people, I can box, move, not get hit and still be punishing. Paul Williams will find that out for himself if he fights me July 9th.”

Go online to www.RumbleTimePromotions.com for more information about Latimore or any of his Rumble Time Promotions stable-mates.

COMMENTS

Radam G :

The once HBO so-called most feared and avoided fighter in the world, Paul "The Punisher" Williams now has a bull's eye on his chin and a you-can-knock-my-arse-out sign on his forehead. Ev'y lamed pretender -- I mean contender -- and dey mommas want a piece of the long, tall, former, most-hyped fighter in the world. I think that both kiddie titlebelt holders, Saul Alvarez and Victor Ortiz, would give him a shot. "K9" Bundrage -- the oldest cat in history to win light middleweight -- shoulda fought him, instead of giving Powell a shot. LTP is now seen as roadkill. Holla!

brownsugar :

It's just like we said,.. everybody,... including Paul Williams own sparring partners is calling him out. We saw the usually mesmerizing Erislandy Lara look like a pre-Berto Ortiz in his last fight... completely ordinary against Molina who was on the shelf for 2 years and fighting above his normal fighting weight. Now Lara says he'll retire Williams for Good... (he's a much better boxer than Williams but this is a fight Williams can win on his "Hustle" alone). Deandre Latimore did stop Powell but it's not as dramatic as it sounds... Powell came into the ring with bloodshot eyes and he literally goofed and hotdogged untill the ref stopped it.. wasn't hurt when the ref interrupted his liesurely rope a dope to stop the fight... it was a strange night... and Powell literally competed like a man who had just smoked a joint of some mean hydro.. Latimore is a threat to Williams however,.. he throws from some odd angles sometimes and like to punch from a ducking position... but he's no Martinez... Williams should take the fight... he'll need to be at least as good as latimore or better if he wants to go for the top guns.

Joe :

I still like the Punisher but over the last thirty / forty years it seems to me that once a guy gets KO'd like he did the fighter is never really the same.